Punctuate the awesome story of a priceless poet-saint who was blind from birth with 34 enchanting song-sequences based on both popular and rare ragas and present it in 2 magical hours which take you 600 years back in time and drown you in the blissful ocean of pure devotion. This is the empowered essence of the mono-act play Soordas – yet another memorable milestone in the creative career-graph of writer, researcher, lyricist, composer, director and actor par excellence – Padma Shri Shekhar Sen!
The minimalistic production draws its arresting power as much from the mind-blowing tale of this disarming devotee of the cowherd Lord Krishna as from Sen’s charismatic ability to hold the audience in his artistic grip as he shares the stories and songs spanning the 105 years of the life of a remarkable human being, whose sightlessness did not hinder the inner sunshine of his unconditional love for the Divine from breaking through the barriers of hatred and violence sparked off by bigotry and fanaticism.
Gems from the 10,000 –plus strong literary treasury of this spiritual giant, particularly the enticing pieces capturing the Bal Leela – the playful antics of Baby Krishna; the influence of MahaprabhuVallabhacharya on Soordas; the honour conferred on this simple soul when he was made lead poet of the AshthaChhapgroup which sang the glory of Krishna; his momentous interaction with Greats like Swami Haridas, Tulsidas, Meerabai, Emperor Akbar and the legendary Tansen… all this and more is recreated on stage in this spellbinding mix of music , narration, dialogue and evergreen bhajans.
Audience glued to their seat.... gave the actor a rousing ovation for nearly 15 minutes.- Times of India (Mumbai)
Hindi rangmanch par ek uplabdhi, ek adhyatmik sparsh.- Navbharat Times (Hindi)
Darshak do ghante tak Kabeer ki darshan sarita main gote lagaate rahe.- Vishwamitra (Hindi, Calcutta)
Mahaan rangmanch jeevanpat, ek sundar natyanubhav.- Loksatta (Marathi)
Geet Sangeet-thi Bhari Bhari Rajuwaat.- Mumbai Sanchar (Gujrati)
See it, the singing is a treat !- Free Press Journal (Mumbai)
Kabeer ke nagar main Kabeer ka sakaar hona Itihaas ko dohraana tha.- Amar Ujala (Hindi, Varanasi)